1st Edition

The Ethnography of Vietnam's Central Highlanders A Historical Contextualization 1850-1990

By Oscar Salemink Copyright 2002
    412 Pages
    by Routledge

    412 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book looks at ethnographic discourses concerning the indigenous population of Vietnam's Central Highlands during periods of christianization, colonization, war and socialist transformation, and analyses these in their relation to tribal, ethnic, territorial, governmental and gendered discourses. Salemink's book is a timely contribution to anthropological knowledge, as the ethnic minorities in Vietnam have (again) been the object of fierce academic debate. This is a historically grounded post-colonial critique relevant to theories of ethnicity and the history of anthropology, and will be of interest to graduate students of anthropology and cultural studies, as well as Vietnam studies.

    Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Ethnography, Anthropology and Colonial Discourse 2. Missionaries, Explorers and Savages: The Construction of an Evolutionist Discourse 3. Leopold Sabatier: Colonial Administration and Cultural Relativism 5. The Return of the Python God: Multiple Interpretations of a Millenarian Movement 6. War and Ethnography: Territorialization, Ethnicization and Cultural Relativism 7. Romancing the Montagnards: The Role of Anthropology 8. The Dying God Revisited: The King of Fire and Vietnamese Ethnic Policies 9. Conclusion: French, American and Vietnamese Ethnographies in Comparative Perspective Maps and Charts Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

    Biography

    Oscar Salemink works for the Ford Foundation in Vietnam.  He is also a lecturer in social and cultural anthropology at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

    'Salemink provides abundant evidence to enable one to come to such a critical conclusion.' - Jan J. DeWolf, Utrecht University, the Netherlands